Whitehorse businessman Mike Pemberton joins race to lead Yukon Liberals
Yukon Liberals will get a chance to vote for their new leader this time.
Businessman Mike Pemberton launched his campaign for the Liberal leadership in Whitehorse Tuesday, promising action on affordability, housing, health care and public safety. His candidacy means the first contested leadership race for the Liberals in two decades.
"I have immense respect for all citizens of Yukon," he said. "I want to be part of a solution and and not part of a problem. I want to be able to help."
Pemberton is the former owner of a furniture store in downtown Whitehorse. He's served on the Whitehorse and Yukon chambers of commerce, the Yukon Development Corporation and the board of Yukon Energy.
He said that experience makes him a "right of centre" candidate who will seek to ease environmental regulations and make things easier on the private sector.
"I want to see how we can work through that to make that easier for those corporations, those medium and those small businesses, how we can work with them to make things better and they can become more profitable because profit is not a dirty word," Pemberton said. "Profit makes the world go round."
The deadline for leadership candidate nominations is May 29. Each candidate will have to pay a non-refundable nomination fee of $7,000 to the Yukon Liberal Party.
The Liberal leadership convention will take place in Whitehorse June 19.
Former Kwanlin Dün First Nation Chief Doris Bill has already announced her candidacy for the party leadership. That means Liberals will vote for their leader for the first time since 2005, when Arthur Mitchell defeated former premier Pat Duncan. Current leader Ranj Pillai and former leader Sandy Silver were both acclaimed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
28 minutes ago
- CTV News
Control zones set up in Fraser Valley, B.C., after Newcastle disease detected
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is seen in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 26, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick CHILLIWACK — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has put up controls on the movements of birds around two commercial poultry farms experiencing the first outbreaks of virulent Newcastle disease in Canada in more than 50 years. The establishment of the primary control zones in the Fraser Valley means that birds, byproducts and items that have contacted the birds cannot be moved within or through the areas without permission. The agency says the virus affects both wild and domestic birds and can cause pink eye in humans, and birds at the infected farms must be culled. The agency says that before the disease was detected in B.C. this month, including at a commercial pigeon operation, the last infections in Canada were reported in 1973. The CFIA says the ailment is of great concern to the world's agricultural community since it's highly contagious and threatens poultry. It says Newcastle disease can decrease egg production in domestic birds and cause high numbers of sudden deaths in a flock, while wild birds can develop wing paralysis and be left unable to fly. It says the risk to humans is low if gloves are worn while handling infected birds, and that the disease was rarely found to kill wild birds before 1990. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025.
CTV News
28 minutes ago
- CTV News
Liberals, Conservatives pass major projects legislation in House of Commons
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 19, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle Conservative members of Parliament voted with the minority Liberal government to pass its marquee major projects legislation Friday evening, setting it up to become law before Canada Day. The legislation, also known as the one Canadian economy act, would allow the government to green-light a list of projects that have been deemed to be in the national interest, fast-tracking their approvals. The Liberals have called it the core of the government's domestic economic response to U.S. tariffs. 'This is what makes us different from the United States, this is what makes us more independent from the United States, this is what's going to move us forward,' Prime Minister Mark Carney said at a press conference after the vote, adding the legislation needed to pass quickly 'because we are in a crisis.' 'And if you don't think we're in a crisis, go to Sault Ste. Marie, go to Hamilton, go to Windsor.' After the second of two votes in the House of Commons on Friday, Carney crossed the floor to shake hands with Opposition House leader Andrew Scheer and Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman. Two votes were held instead of one after the House Speaker ruled that the legislation had two distinct parts without a clear common element. That allowed the Bloc Quebecois and NDP members to vote in favour of the first part of the bill -- which looks to tackle internal trade barriers -- and against the more controversial second part dealing with major projects. The major projects bill grants the government sweeping powers to quickly approve projects that are deemed to be in the national interest. Provincial and territorial premiers have given Carney lists of projects they want to see approved, but no national list of projects has been made public so far. 'We all agree that more fulsome conversations are needed to select the nation-building projects and to determine the conditions that they must fulfil. In other words, the real work begins now,' Carney said. The legislation has drawn criticism from Indigenous leaders and environmental groups who say it gives too much power to the federal cabinet to bypass existing laws. The legislation was introduced on June 6 and was pushed through the House after about eight hours of committee study on Tuesday and Wednesday. The House transport committee did amend the bill to, among other things, remove the Indian Act from a list of laws the government can sidestep when determining whether a project should move forward. First Nations leaders have warned the bill could violate their constitutionally protected rights and may lead to legal challenges. Carney emphasized the need to respect the constitutional rights of Indigenous Peoples in his press conference on Friday. 'The major projects office will have an Indigenous advisory council whose core function will be to honour Section 35 rights in the implementation of this bill,' he said. He promised to hold full-day summits with First Nations, Inuit and Metis rights-holders and leaders in the coming weeks, alongside Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty and Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty. 'Consultation, co-operation, engagement and participation are at the heart of this bill,' he said. The bill is now headed to the Senate, which is scheduled to sit until June 27. By Sarah Ritchie. With files from Kyle Duggan and Alessia Passafiume.
CTV News
30 minutes ago
- CTV News
Sudbury marks 41st Workers' Memorial Day
On Friday in Sudbury, a ceremony was held to mark the 41st anniversary of Workers' Memorial Day at Unifor Local 598. On Friday in Sudbury, a ceremony was held to mark the 41st anniversary of Workers' Memorial Day at Unifor Local 598. The day recognizes the men who were killed at 10:12 a.m. on June 20, 1984, after a seismic event caused a collapse in what was formerly called the Falconbridge Mine. Three workers were killed instantly and one was missing. Rescue teams worked frantically to locate the fourth person, who succumbed to his injuries after a second event caused further delays. Workers' Memorial Day On Friday in Sudbury, a ceremony was held to mark the 41st anniversary of Workers' Memorial Day recognizes the men who were killed at 10:12 a.m. on June 20, 1984, after a seismic event caused a collapse in what was formerly called the Falconbridge Mine. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News) 'It is very important for the local and for the members (and) for the people that were there when a lot of their brothers or sisters were injured or killed on the job,' said Brian McDonald, recording secretary for the pensioners association at Unifor Local 598. 'I knew quite a few of them over the years. And … it's always close to the heart. It's very, very, very emotional for me.' NDP Nickel Belt MPP and NDP health critic France Gelinas was working at the hospital when the accident occurred. Many other sectors need change Gelinas said while there have been many improvements in health and safety since then, more needs to be done. 'We have done a lot in Sudbury to push health and safety forward, mainly in mining and a bit in forestry,' she said. Workers' Memorial Day On Friday in Sudbury, a ceremony was held to mark the 41st anniversary of Workers' Memorial Day recognizes the men who were killed at 10:12 a.m. on June 20, 1984, after a seismic event caused a collapse in what was formerly called the Falconbridge Mine. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News) 'But there are many other sectors where people work, where health and safety are not a priority. But those workers do get hurt, those workers do get injured and some of them even die.' Gelinas said transportation is an area where too many serious accidents are occurring. 'If you look at the number of new drivers that are involved in accidents -- I would say it's not an accident,' she said. 'It's because the health and safety standards that the government should be putting in place are not in place, are lacking. Some of them have even been taken away. And you see there, you see the consequences of that with multiple accidents on all of the roads in the north, not only in the winter but in the summer.' Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre said the day is one of remembrance, while also pushing for change. 'As a community, we are a leader in health and safety, because unfortunately, the people that we have lost, we learn with every experience,' Lefebvre said. 'Certainly, we've got to strive to get better, be better together. And that's why we're here today.' The ceremony was marked by a bagpipe procession, speeches and the laying of flowers at the cenotaph. Related: Memorial day in Sudbury honours workers who were killed on the job Sombre ceremony marks 40th Workers' Memorial Day in Sudbury
